Questions and answers

Question reference: S2W-05284

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 January 2004
Current Status: Answered by Hugh Henry on 14 January 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many babies have been born with a drug addiction in each NHS board area in each of the last five years, expressed also on a per capita basis and as a ratio to all babies born in each area.

Drug misuse information isnot recorded at birth, but when the baby is discharged from hospital. Theavailable information on babies discharged from neonatal units with a diagnosisinvolving drug misuse is shown in Tables 1a and 1b.

Table 1a:All Births^1,2,3 and Neonatal Discharges⁴ Recording DrugMisuse⁵; Numbers and Rates per 1,000 Births

	SMR02					SMR11
	All Births					Neonatal Discharges Recording Drug Misuse
	1997-98	1998-99	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	1997-98	1998-99	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02
Argyll and Clyde	4,883	4,657	4,456	4,305	3,995	11	22	34	29	29
Ayrshire and Arran	4,069	4,038	3,697	3,685	3,612	17	23	28	19	26
Borders	1,035	999	1,018	1,005	1,032	**	-	**	-	**
Dumfries and Galloway	1,573	1,426	1,391	1,337	1,201	**	5	7	13	13
Fife	3,695	3,725	3,566	3,520	3,525	6	10	15	8	8
Forth Valley	3,191	3,136	2,959	2,900	2,761	7	**	12	15	6
Grampian	6,018	5,882	5,746	5,320	5,055	60	42	67	101	86
Greater Glasgow	10,808	10,064	9,544	9,368	8,941	66	98	109	94	33+
Highland	2,394	2,372	2,138	2,199	2,012	**	5	6	5	**
Islands	717	721	696	593	593	-	-	**	**	-
Lanarkshire	6,617	6,488	6,196	6,085	5,829	**	**	10	14	19
Lothian	8,931	8,818	8,593	8,236	8,041	16	19	29	18	28
Tayside	4,309	4,070	3,964	3,829	3,781	24	13	5	12	7
	Rate per 1,000 Births Within NHS Board Area
	1997-98	1998-99	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02
Argyll and Clyde	2.25	4.72	7.63	6.74	7.26
Ayrshire and Arran	4.18	5.70	7.57	5.16	7.20
Borders	**	-	**	-	0.97
Dumfries and Galloway	**	3.51	5.03	9.72	10.82
Fife	1.62	2.68	4.21	2.27	2.27
Forth Valley	2.19	**	4.06	5.17	2.17
Grampian	9.97	7.14	11.66	18.98	17.01
Greater Glasgow	6.11	9.74	11.42	10.03	3.69
Highland	**	2.11	2.81	2.27	**
Islands	-	-	**	**	-
Lanarkshire	**	**	1.61	2.30	3.26
Lothian	1.79	2.15	3.37	2.19	3.48
Tayside	5.57	3.19	1.26	3.13	1.85

Source:SMR02 and SMR11.

Ref:S2W-05284 / IR2003-01737.

1. -Excludes home births and births at non-NHS hospitals.

2. -Includes all live births and stillbirths.

3. - From1998, where four or more babies are involved in a pregnancy, birth details arerecorded for the first three babies. Prior to 1998, birth details wererecorded only for the first two babies delivered.

4. A babymay be admitted to and discharged from neonatal care more than once. Figuresrelate to the total number of discharges, not to the number of individualbabies.

5. Drugmisuse is defined using the following Internatioanl Classification of Disease(10th Revision) codes:

P04.4 - Foetusand newborn affected by maternal use of drugs of addiction.

P96.1 -Neonatal withdrawal symptoms from maternal use of drugs of addiction.

** - Inorder to maintain patient confidentiality, values of one and over and less thanfive have been suppressed.

+ -Incomplete data collection

Table 1:bNeonatal Discharges¹ Recording Drug Misuse^2; Numbers andRates per 100,000 Population

	SMR02					SMR11
	Mid-Year Estimate of Population					Neonatal Discharges Recording Drug Misuse
	1997	1989	1999	2000	2001	1997-98	1998-99	1999-00	2000-01	2001-02
Argyll and Clyde	427,300	425,970	424,090	421,740	420,700	11	22	34	29	29
Ayrshire and Arran	372,750	371,790	370,560	368,770	368,290	17	23	28	19	26
Borders	105,960	106,040	105,810	106,250	106,950	**	-	**	-	**
Dumfries and Galloway	148,520	148,740	148,230	147,540	147,780	**	5	7	13	13
Fife	346,540	346,540	347,030	348,340	349,690	6	10	15	8	8
Forth Valley	275,950	276,970	278,260	278,980	279,240	7	**	12	15	6
Grampian	530,480	528,670	528,670	527,080	525,850	60	42	67	101	86
Greater Glasgow	880,120	876,520	872,050	866,510	868,170	66	98	109	94	33+
Highland	208,560	208,850	209,200	209,130	208,920	**	5	6	5	**
Islands	70,510	69,830	69,140	68,260	67,630	-	-	**	**	-
Lanarkshire	556,540	555,180	554,490	553,410	553,230	**	**	10	14	19
Lothian	764,780	767,920	771,690	776,500	779,000	16	19	29	18	28
Tayside	395,330	394,050	392,730	390,430	388,750	24	13	5	12	7
	Discharges per 100,000 Population within NHS Board Area
	1997-98	1998-99	1999-00	2000-01	2001-02
Argyll and Clyde	25.74	51.65	80.17	68.76	68.93
Ayrshire and Arran	45.61	61.86	75.56	51.52	70.60
Borders	**	-	**	-	**
Dumfries and Galloway	**	33.62	47.22	88.11	87.97
Fife	17.31	28.86	43.22	22.97	22.88
Forth Valley	25.37	**	43.13	53.77	21.49
Grampian	113.11	79.44	126.73	191.62	163.54
Greater Glasgow	74.99	111.81	124.99	108.48	38.01
Highland	19.18	23.94	28.68	23.91	4.79
Islands	-	-	**	**	-
Lanarkshire	**	**	18.03	25.30	34.34
Lothian	20.92	24.74	37.58	23.18	35.94

Source:SMR02, SMR11, GRO(S) mid-year population estimates.

Ref:S2W-05284 / IR2003-01737.

1. A babymay be admitted to and discharged from neonatal care more than once. Figuresrelate to the total number of discharges, not to the number of individualbabies.

2. Drugmisuse is defined using the following Internatioanl Classification of Disease(10th Revision) codes:

P04.4 - Foetusand newborn affected by maternal use of drugs of addiction.

P96.1 -Neonatal withdrawal symptoms from maternal use of drugs of addiction.

** - Inorder to maintain patient confidentiality, values of one and over and less thanfive have been suppressed.

+ -Incomplete data collection.

Question reference: S2W-05285

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 January 2004
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Curran on 14 January 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many non-occupied local authority-owned houses there are in each local authority area, expressed also as a ratio to the total number of local authority-owned houses in each area.

Question reference: S2W-03402

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 October 2003
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 16 December 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive how many Council of Ministers meetings have been attended by its officials in each year since 1999, expressed also as a percentage of total Council of Ministers meetings in each year.

Question reference: S2W-04668

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 December 2003
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 15 December 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide an update on the inshore fisheries review, including the number of submissions to the most recent consultation and the likely date for the publication of a draft strategy and subsequent legislation, and whether there has been any delay in respect of the review and, if so, for what reason.

The strategic review ofinshore fisheries is being carried out through the Scottish Inshore FisheriesAdvisory Group (SIFAG), the Executive’s main source of stakeholder advice oninshore fisheries matters.

There are three key strandsto the strategic review:

review of the effectiveness of inshore fisheriesmanagement to date;

development of a strategy and management frameworkfor inshore fisheries, and

development of a plan to move from the existingsystem to any future system.

The first strand focusesprimarily on the general use of prohibitions under the Inshore Fishing (Scotland)Act 1984. Twenty-four responses were received to a consultation on the use of the act, and the conclusions of that consultation will feed into thedevelopment of a strategy. We will also be having parallel discussions withRegulating Order grantees and applicants. Royal Society for the Protection of Birdsand Scottish Natural Heritage commissioned a report on environmentalintegration in inshore fisheries management, which will act as the mainenvironmental consideration of the review. That report was published on 3 December 2003, andthe project’s steering group will make recommendations to SIFAG.

On the second strand,sub-groups of SIFAG have been convening on a regular basis, supported bySEERAD, to develop a draft strategy and options for local managementstructures. SIFAG will consider drafts of both at the group’s next fullmeeting, which I expect to be in January or February.

Following SIFAGconsideration of a draft strategy and management framework, there will be aconsultation with a wide range of inshore fisheries stakeholders. The extentand timing of any legislation will depend on the conclusions reached by SIFAG.There have been no significant delays in progress, and given the emphasis onstakeholder participation, the timing of the review is flexible to accommodateindustry priorities and responsibilities.

Question reference: S2W-04591

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 December 2003
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 12 December 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average number of applicants is for each place available on (a) speech and language therapy and (b) orthotics courses.

Question reference: S2W-04588

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 December 2003
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 12 December 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive when it will act upon the plans submitted earlier this year by the drug and alcohol action teams to tackle alcohol misuse and why, and when, these plans were requested.

The submission and analysisof local alcohol action plans is a key part of the accountability process forthe £2.5 million the Executive provides each year to support alcohol and drug actionteams (ADATs). We have given feedback on the alcohol action plans submittedthis year and will use these plans as a baseline to monitor local progress andto inform future decisions about resourcing. The requirement for ADATs to drawup and publish alcohol action plans was given in the plan for action on alcoholproblems, published in January 2002. A template to inform ADATs of theinformation to be included in local plans was issued in July 2002.

Question reference: S2W-04589

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 December 2003
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 12 December 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive how the new GP contract will affect the number of hours available for treating drug misusers.

A GPs working day is notsplit into allocated times to deal with different clinical needs, such as drugmisuse, diabetics, asthmatics etc. Rather, GPs make themselves available fortheir patients and deal with each case as it arises.

Under the terms of thecurrent contract, the services which a doctor is required to render for drugmisusers include, where appropriate, to give advice personally to patientsrelating to the misuse of drugs and solvents.

Under the terms of the newGMS contract, provisions to help patients suffering from drugs misuse will beavailable as a specific national enhanced service. Practices will be contractedto provide a service to patients suffering from drug misuse. Such a servicewill include the development and co-ordination of the care of drug users andthe development of practice guidelines, the treatment of dependent drug userswith appropriate support as required and the provision of care for drugmisusers outside the practice’s own registered list.

Each practice contracted toprovide these services will receive an annual retainer fee, a withdrawal feeper patient per annum, and a maintenance fee per patient, per annum.

Question reference: S2W-04587

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 December 2003
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 12 December 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the drug misuse funding distribution formula will be changed to take into account prevalence rates and, if so, when the change will be implemented.

Question reference: S2W-04552

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 01 December 2003
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 11 December 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive how much of the fishing vessel decommissioning fund has been paid directly to banks and what proportion this represents of allocations from the fund.

All decommissioning grantsare paid directly into the bank accounts nominated by scheme applicants. Theowners of 50 of the 67 vessels currently covered by the decommissioning scheme haveassigned their grants to secured lenders or mortgagees. However, we do not knowwhat proportion of any individual’s grant is actually required to repay loansor other credit facilities that have been secured by using their vessel ascollateral. That is a private matter between the applicant and their securedlender or mortgagee. The total grant covered by the 50 applications is £23.7 million.

Question reference: S2W-04556

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 01 December 2003
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 11 December 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive how many days have been lost in the NHS through staff sickness in each of the last three years and in the current year expressed also in terms of (a) hours per annum, (b) cost per annum and (c) the ratio of hours lost to the total number of employees in each NHS board area.

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